STRAIGHT THROUGH [1972]
year:
- 1972
release date:
- 11 V 1973
runtime:
- 70 min
directed by:
- Grzegorz Królikiewicz
written by:
- Grzegorz Królikiewicz
director of photography:
- Bogdan Dziworski
cast:
- Franciszek Trzeciak [Jan Malisz], Anna Nieborowska [Maria Maliszowa], Irena Ładosiówna [an old woman], Lucyna Winnicka [owner of the photography studio], Ewa Zdzieszyńska [Ewa, a party goer], Halina Szram [old couple’s daughter], Jerzy Block [an old man], Aleksander Czajczyński, Marcel Novek [a party goer], Edward Radulski [Edek, a party goer], Janusz Sykutera [an architect], Jerzy Stuhr [Malisz’s brother], Jerzy Zalewski
edited by:
- Zofia Dwornik
music by:
- Henryk Kuźniak, Janusz Hajdun
production design:
- Jarosław Świtoniak
produced by:
- Zespół Filmowy „Silesia”
executive producer:
- Jerzy Rutowicz
awards:
-
• Lubusz Film Summer Łagów 1973: Grand Prix Golden Grape, award for best original score for Henryk Kuźniak and Janusz Hajdun, award for best male performance in a leading role for Franciszek Trzeciak
• Don Quixote 1973
• Cinema Enthusiasts Award Samovar 1973
• Josef von Sternberg Award 1973 for Grzegorz Królikiewicz
• MTF Mannheim (West Germany) 1973: FIPRESCI Award
• Golden Camera 1973 for debut of Grzegorz Królikiewicz
• Zbigniew Cybulski Award 1974 for Franciszek Trzeciak
About the film
The debut of Grzegorz Królikiewicz is sophisticated in its form, developing the theoretical foundations of his work, Space outside the Frame, has became one of the most interesting films in the Polish cinema.
It is the 1930s. In a drunken den on the outskirts of Krakow, Maria and Jan meet. Soon, the man loses his job at a photography studio. They get married without anyone in attendance. Their relationship is from the beginning marked by the stigma of poverty, humiliation, and desperate attempts to find any work they can. The subsequent, extremely intense scenes − the brutal rejection at a drawing studio, the family treating the couple as layabouts − depict the spouses in times of depression, consequently leading to the complete destruction of their self-esteem.
This leads to tragedy: the Malisz couple murder a postman and two vulnerable elderly people; they use the money obtained in the robbery to buy themselves several hours in a luxury hotel. Arrested, they are brought to justice in an air of hatred from the city residents. Their testimony is a story of their hopeless lives. The story of their crimes is an unusual love story: facing the death penalty, each of them wants to take the blame.
Jan Słodowski, Leksykon polskich filmów fabularnych, Warszawa 1996
